Grant: Operating Grant

Aside from obvious differences between women and men in the occurrence of cancers in organs such as the ovary and breast in women and the prostate and testis in men, there are also sex differences in the risk for cancers that occur in some other organs such as the liver. Men have more than 3 times higher risk for liver cancer than women, even after accounting for male-female differences in exposure to cancer-producing chemicals or viruses. The reasons for these differences are not known. Some strains of mice can mimic the sex differences in liver cancer risk seen in humans, and may therefore provide a way to investigate the reasons for these differences. We have seen a much higher amount of liver tumor growth in male mice than in female mice after they were exposed early in life to one type of cancer-causing chemicals called the 'aromatic amines', which are found in some factory settings, in cigarette smoke and in some hair dyes. Our goal is to better understand the reasons for these sex differences in risk for liver cancer growth in mice. By doing so, we hope to better identify different risk factors in men and women for human cancers of the liver and other organs. With this understanding, we hope that our studies will eventually lead to the discovery and use of novel medical treatments or lifestyle changes that could reduce the risk for cancers of the liver and possibly other tissues in both men and women.